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Tuesday, August 25, 2009

The case of the missing trailer

Tuesday morning, Mike Stonebraker woke up to find that his band’s trailer — and all of the equipment inside — was gone.

“I woke up for work this morning, looked out my window and sat there in stunned silence,” Stonebraker said. “I immediately called 911 and stared at the empty space in my parking lot.”

The Broadcast has only been together for about nine months, Stonebreaker said, but between band members, they had amassed quite a bit of equipment. He estimates that the missing trailer and gear is worth more than $10,000.

In January, Omaha police recovered $30,000 worth of equipment stolen from the band Blue House nearly two years after it had gone missing. Police were pretty surprised to find it after all that time, and to find it all in one place.

Usually stored at the band’s practice space in Honey Creek, Iowa, The Broadcast's trailer was brought back to Omaha for a gig scheduled for Tuesday night, where Stonebraker parked it near 84th and Harrison Streets on Monday night.

Inside the trailer was a drum kit, four guitars, guitar amps, pedals, cables, cymbals, cases and other equipment.

The trailer is a 4 foot by 6 foot black trailer with a silver-colored top and the back door of the trailer is covered in stickers from other bands. The trailer’s license plate is Nebraska XBC 705.

The band asks that anyone who has seen the trailer to report it to police. They also asked anyone with information to send them messages through the band’s Web site, www.wearethebroadcast.com.

Police have issued a bulletin for businesses that buy and sell trailers, Stonebraker said. He and the other members of the band made the rounds to pawn shops on Tuesday to give shop owners a list of their stolen gear, should any turn up.

While the band had a gig scheduled for Tuesday night, Stonebraker said the show must go on.

“We’re going to play an acoustic set or see if we can borrow some equipment,” he said. “We’re not going to let it stop us.”

I don't know how well the equipment was locked up. It seems like this happens about once a year, which is pretty tragic. Especially so for young bands who haven't been around too long.

How discouraged would you be if you started a band and shortly thereafter your guitar got stolen? Yeah, you'd go be an accountant and never pick up an axe again.